A Question of a Perfect Day
by Alaia Skyhawk
Summary: Merlin always seems to get the short end of the stick. Getting beaten up, tortured, or just generally stepped on. Well this time, it's his turn to have a GOOD day #Based on A Question of Motives#


**Alaia Skyhawk: I just read "Why Do You Hate Me?" By Emachinescat... and one line Merlin says in it is "Why can't someone write a fan-fiction where nothing bad happens to me?" Soooooooo, I'm going to write one! Heeee! :D**

**Also note that this is just a oneshot, set after Season 3, and while it IS based on A Question of Motives it won't be referenced in it. This one isn't AU from AQoM, like my xmas fic is, so feel free to insert this in the relevant place lol :P**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Merlin TV series etc, but I do own the star of this fic... LIAM!**

**Music: The Substitute Knight (Merlin OST)**

~(-)~

A Question of a Perfect Day

The sunlight shone softly through the window, a gentle glow that lit the room but did not disturb the young man sleeping on the bed within it.

Merlin let out a long yawn, slowly stretching out arms and legs before letting them go limp and remaining _exactly_ where he was. He didn't have to move, had nothing he had to go do. Gaius had Liam to run errands for him now, and Arthur had given him the day off, which meant one thing.

Today he could do whatever he wanted, and no one would give him chores or things to get in the way of it.

He stayed there for at least an hour, watching little dust motes floating around in the ray of sunlight from the window. He even indulged in magically making pictures out of some of them, before eventually he decided to sit up and get dressed.

A few minutes later saw him descending the handful of stairs into the main part of Gaius' chambers, where there was already bread and cheese set out for him for his breakfast, and Liam was stood at another table mixing remedies. Gaius had clearly already gone out to do his rounds.

Liam waved a spoon-toting hand at him, smiling in greeting.

"Morning, Merlin."

The warlock grinned, swallowing his mouthful of bread.

"Morning. Gaius give you anything interesting to do today?"

Liam looked a little bemused.

"Not really. I'm making bruise balm... again. The rate we go through it in this castle, it's a wonder."

Merlin chuckled.

"Not really, not when Arthur beats up his knights nearly every day." Liam chose that moment to drop the pot he was holding, Merlin catching it with a glimmer of golden eyes. "Careful, you need what's in there."

Liam grabbed the pot from mid air, thanking him profusely.

"Thanks, Merlin. Gaius would have had me out in the woods collecting more of this stuff if you hadn't caught it."

Merlin grabbed his wedge of cheese, heading for the door.

"Any time, Liam, any time."

The warlock began to stroll through the castle, not really going anywhere in particular, just watching the rest of the staff and nobles hurrying around doing bits and pieces that didn't really concern him that much. The thing was, watching servants carrying piles of sheets, or trays of crockery around wasn't really that entertaining. It was time to seek out something that _would_ be, so he changed direction and headed for the armoury... Camelot's newest knights would be getting ready for their first training session.

He arrived at the armoury as cheerful as cheerful could be, and hearing the familiar voices of Gwaine and Lancelot coming from behind the closed door, he took hold of the latch and opened it without hesitation...

...And just happened to slam it straight into the face of the knight who'd been about to open it from the other side.

Merlin couldn't help his smile of amusement, at the expression on Lancelot's face as he toppled backwards in a clatter of chainmail and armour. Instead he didn't even try to hide it, grinning with a hint of apology as the knight started to get back up.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were behind it."

Lancelot, now back on his feet, straightened up with a hand to his nose.

"It's fine, I've suffered worse."

From behind him Gwaine directed a smile at their visitor, equally amused by his fellow knight's introduction to the door.

"Hey, Merlin. Come to watch us beat up Arthur on the training field?"

Merlin snorted in amusement.

"You mean watch _him_ beat _you_ up on the training field... Have you written a will?"

The swordsman strolled past him and through the door, glancing at Merlin as he did so.

"Oh ye of little faith..."

Lancelot and Merlin followed him, the latter grinning to himself. The grin then proceeded to get wider and wider as the morning went on, as the warlock it belonged to watched Prince Arthur systematically defeat every single knight that sparred against him.

When Gwaine saw him smirking, after the regular knights had gone back inside, he waved the warlock over.

"Come on then, Mr Expert. Let's see _you_ do any better!"

Merlin accepted the sword that was offered to him, before facing Arthur and continuing to grin.

"Open tournament rules?"

The prince swung his sword around in readiness.

"Sure, why not."

He lunged at Merlin, but for the warlock he and everything else seemed to slow down. Merlin side-stepped the now much slower swing, grabbing the hilt of the blade just above Arthur's grip and twisting it out of his hand the instant time returned to normal. He then pointed both swords at the prince.

"I win..."

Arthur frowned.

"That's cheating, Merlin."

There was a laugh, as the warlock returned his sword to him.

"But you agreed it would be 'open tournament rules', and the last time I asked you what the rules of an open tournament were, you said 'there _are_ no rules'."

He ducked out of the way of Arthur's half-hearted punch, giving Gwaine his sword back in passing and heading into the castle laughing as he went. Today, was a good day.

Safe from retaliation, he resumed his wanderings, ending up on the battlements admiring the view. He stayed there for a while, eventually deciding to move when noon came. He was just making his way back to Gaius' chambers for the midday meal when once again an unfortunate coincidence of paths did occur.

...That is Merlin pushed a door open right into the path of Lancelot's face.

For the second time in half a day, the knight went down clutching a hand to his now doubly bruised nose. At this rate he was going to end up with a matching pair of black eyes.

"Sorry!"

Merlin once again was fighting not to show his amusement at his acquaintance's misfortune, but it was too ironic to deny the humour of it.

Once again Lancelot got back to his feet, his expression above his hand showing he didn't mind at all.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. As a knight I'm going to have to get used to being knocked around a bit."

Once again they went their separate ways, Merlin chuckling to himself until he reached his mentor's chambers. Gaius and Liam were already sat at the table, the physician warmly greeting his ward.

"Ah, there you are, Merlin. Come get your food before it gets cold. Did you get the message from Arthur?"

Merlin sat himself down at the table, accepting the bowl of nice hot stew that was handed to him.

"What message?"

Gaius shrugged a little.

"Oh, he spoke to me first thing this morning, saying he had arranged a meal for all of us his closest allies. He said he had something he wanted to announce."

Merlin shook his head.

"Well he didn't say anything to me at the training field, but then I did sort of annoy him... It was fun though."

The physician shook his head.

"You really can be the limit sometimes, but then you wouldn't be you if you weren't. Go do something useful with yourself this afternoon, instead of teasing everyone."

The warlock chuckled.

"Sure, I'll just go read my spellbook for a while."

He shovelled down the last of his stew, getting up and heading for his room.

"Merlin, make sure you don't set fire to anything in there."

"I won't!"

Merlin entered his room and closed the door behind him, still chuckling and still in a great mood. Truth was, he didn't mind being scolded by Gaius, at least not the type of scolding that had been. It was fatherly of the physician to do it, and it was part of what made Camelot feel like home.

The afternoon idled by, punctuated by bits of furniture randomly rearranging themselves and flocks of conjured butterflies covering everything in sight until the illusion was ended. Clothing became miraculously clean, dust vanished from the floor, and not once did anything spontaneously catch fire.

"Merlin! It's time to go!"

Looking out the window, Merlin could see that it was just starting to get dark. He hurried out of his room, following Gaius and Liam to the temporary council chambers where the meal had been set up. Everyone else was already there, Lancelot, Gwaine, Leon, Elyan, Percival, Arthur, and Gwen. Gwen was seated to Arthur's left, Merlin to his right, and everyone else just sat wherever once the door of the chamber was closed and they were left alone to enjoy their meal. There were no servants pouring wine, instead they passed the jug around the table and helped themselves, and it was once most of the food had been devoured that Arthur thumped on the table to get their attention.

"Now, I know you're wondering why I did this, so now I'm going to tell you." He glanced at Gwen, reaching out his hand to take hold of hers, a look of true love for her in his eyes. "I've asked Gwen if, once I become king, she would be my wife."

Gwen smiled back at him, equally adoring.

"And I said yes."

"Way to go, Arthur!"

"Congratulations, sister!"

Gwaine and Elyan both leapt to their feet to congratulate the pair, while Lancelot picked up his goblet with an expression liked a kicked puppy and proceeded to drown his sorrows. It was then that Gwaine decided that they all needed to celebrate 'the good old fashioned way' and dragged them all down to the tavern in the lower town.

It was there, wonder of wonders, that he _actually_ bought _all_ the drinks, the group of friends all merry and laughing except for one who continued to find solace in the bottom of his tankard. Towards the end of this, having limited his intake of booze so he wouldn't inadvertently knock the building down or something if he sneezed, Merlin went outside to look up at the stars and sigh. Today really had been a _great_ day.

He turned to go back into the tavern, but the door met an unexpected obstacle in the process. Down Lancelot went like a sack of potatoes, and this time Merlin had managed to knock him out cold. Gwaine and Percival picked him up, as everyone left the tavern and started back to the castle while singing bar songs... A pair of drag marks trailing behind them from the heels of the unconscious Lancelot's boots...

~#~

...Blue eyes opened, blinking for a few seconds to adjust to the dawn light coming through the window. Merlin looked at it, yawning, and got out of bed. Why was it morning always came so quickly when he was having a good dream?

"Merlin! Hurry up or you'll be late for work!"

Getting dressed, Merlin smiled to himself. That was always the case, wasn't it... Time flies when you're having fun. But he had to admit, it had been a _good_ dream...

~(-)~

**Alaia Skyhawk: Hehe, that was fun. I deliberately went over the top with some of the cheesiness of the descriptions. Hey, it was Merlin's dream, so it was bound to be a bit odd, hehehe. And if anyone wonders why I made Lancelot randomly get a door whammed into his face... repeatedly... Well that's an inside joke between me and Julie Winchester XD**


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